USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. retaliatory airstrikes against militants in Iraq destroyed five weapons depots, but the top U.S commander for the Middle East acknowledged Friday that there are many similar sites that the U.S. has so far not hit because of potential civilian casualties and political sensitivities with the Iraqi government.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Elections officials in the four states holding presidential primaries next week say they have no plans to postpone voting amid widespread disruptions caused by the coronavirus outbreak. Instead, they are taking extraordinary steps to ensure that voters can cast ballots and polling places are clean.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Coronavirus is already coloring the 2020 campaign, with Democrats convinced President Donald Trump’s muddled response to the outbreak leaves him and down-ballot Republicans vulnerable over the burgeoning health crisis, his competency and __ potentially most damaging __ the staggering economy.

SILVER SPRING, Md. (AP) — A Maryland man who was shot and killed by a police officer was asleep in his bedroom when police opened fire from outside his house, an attorney for the 21-year-old man’s family said Friday. The man’s girlfriend was also wounded.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. Census Bureau said it has reached its goal of recruiting more than 2.6 million applicants for the once-a-decade head count that launched for most of America this week — but it has been a bumpy road getting there and the new corona virus will likely make the path even more difficult.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House approved legislation early Saturday to provide direct relief to Americans suffering physically, financially and emotionally from the coronavirus pandemic.

President Donald Trump on Friday declared the outbreak a national emergency, freeing up money and resources to fight it, then threw his support behind the congressional aid package.

From the Rose Garden, Trump said, “I am officially declaring a national emergency,” unleashing as much as $50 billion for state and local governments to respond to the crisis.

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street roared back from its worst day in 30 years Friday with a broad rally that sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average nearly 2,000 points higher — its biggest point gain ever — after President Donald Trump declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States declared a state of emergency Friday as many European countries went on a war footing amid mounting deaths as the world mobilized to fight the widening coronavirus pandemic.

At the White House, where President Donald Trump made the emergency decree, drug company executives vowed to work together and with the government to quickly expand the country’s coronavirus testing capabilities, which are far behind those in many countries.

NEW YORK, Mar 12 (APP): An investigative report in a leading American newspaper blamed the Delhi police for siding with Hindu mobs carrying out deadly attacks against Muslim neighbourhood in the northeast of the Indian capital during the February 24-25 violence in which 50 people were killed.

In a joint dispatch, three New York Times correspondents said in the New Delhi-datelined team report that the worst sectarian bloodshed in years was in the view of many “the inevitable result of Hindu extremism that has flourished under the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 13 (APP): A diplomat from the Philippines has tested positive for the spreading corona virus disease, the first case reported among diplomats and staff at the United Nations headquarters in New York, a UN spokesman said Friday.

Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that the Philippine mission to the UN had informed the U.N. Medical Services of the test result earlier in the day.